Syukri said he had talked about qisas in his personal capacity as a scholar, rather than as a representative of the Aceh administration. The news about beheading, “which was construed as if I had said Aceh would implement beheading”, was detrimental to him and the Aceh government, he went on.

The news had spread across the world and was picked up by large media outlets. Syukri was the only source of the news.

“So far, research on qisas has not been included in the programs of the Aceh administration,” Syukri added. (evi)